Trading your passion for glory

"Trading Your Passion For Glory"

Ice Breaker: Short Karaoke competition singing the lyrics to "The Eye of The Tiger"

Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance
Now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times, it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

Opening Questions:

• In the movie Rocky III, how did Rocky trade his passion for glory?

1. He forgot where he came from
2. He stopped training.
3. He started focusing on all the fame, money and glory.

• Spiritually speaking, how can we trade our passion for glory?

1. Stop trying to please God
2. Trying to please men
3. Not keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus
4. Obeying Gods word with the wrong motives

• What happens to us spiritually when we loose our passion for God?

1. We stop reading and praying.
2. Things become a burden rather than a joy.
3. We fall out of love with God

*Lets look at a group of Christians in the bible that traded their passion for glory:

Revelations 2:2-5

2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

• What words did Jesus use to describe this church in Ephesus?

1. Hard workers
2. Perseverers
3. Can't tolerate wickedness
4. They've studied the scriptures in order to test false apostles.
5. They've endured hardship for Jesus name
6. Not grown weary or giving up.

• What did Jesus hold against them?

1. They had forsaken their first love!
2. They had forgot to what extent God had saved them.

• What was at stake?... their salvation!

*In Jeremiah 17:10 the bible says that the Lord examines the hearts and minds of man. We need to examine our lives daily to make sure that we are not trading our passion for glory.

Titus 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

• Where should our passion and desire to obey Gods word come from?

• What is Gods grace and the offer of Salvation teaching you to say no to?

Closing Question: Are you willing to seek after God with complete passion. With all your heart and in every aspect of your life? Any other closing comments?

Spiritual Identity Theft; Bible Talk Lesson

Spiritual Identity Theft

• Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States and around the world.
  • 10 million Americans become victims every year.
  • Identity Theft costs almost $53 billion annually.
  • Americans spent 300 million hours resolving issues related to identity theft.
  • If you do not take steps to protect your personal information, you too can be a victim.
• Just as each person has a physical identity, God has created a spiritual identity for all people.
  • We can learn what God intends our identity to be in his scripture
  • Reference 1 Peter 2:9 and Ephesians 2:10 (or assign two readers ahead of time to get through them quick without turning).
    • A chosen people and royal priesthood.
    • A holy nation, a people belonging to God, declaring his praises.
    • God's workmanship, created in Christ to do good works.
  • God wants every person to take their place in his kingdom and fulfill their destiny!
• However, many people are ignorant of God's ultimate plan for them and that their spiritual identity is being destroyed.
• Your spiritual identity can be stolen through ignorance of God's word.
  • II Corinthians 4:1-4
  • This passage speaks of deceptions and distortions of the word of God. What is the difference between a distortion and a deception?
  • Distortion=to twist or mis-represent. VS. Deception=an illusion or fraud
  • What are some examples of distortions and deceptions about God's word that mislead people?
  • In verse 4, the scripture refers to mental blindness preventing the truth of God from being seen. Why is "blindness" to God's word so dangerous?
  • Who is the "god of this age"? What tricks does the "god of this age" use to deceive unbelievers about their spiritual identity?
• Your spiritual identity can be destroyed by Sin.
  • I Corinthians 6: 9-11
  • Paul, the writer of I Corinthians, makes it clear that the "wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God". He goes on to name a number of sinful acts that make it impossible to be a Christian.
  • Why did Paul get so specific about what wickedness is?
    • These sins destroy our identity as Christians (they start to define who we are)
    • What sins do people commit today that define or "label" them? How do these labels affect their lives?
  • Fortunately for these Corinthian Christians, God took away their transgressions and sins and gave them their true identity. God erased the old evil person and made them into justified, sanctified, and holy people
    • God wants to do the same with us.
• Conclusion:
  • Study God's word to find salvation and truth and avoid the deceptions of the devil.
  • And lets choose God's identity for us and stop letting sin define who we are.
  • Don't let spiritual identity theft happen to you.

Getting To Know God; Bible Talk Lesson

Getting to Know God

• Introduction: Name and What your favorite type of movie or TV show is
  • Does anyone here like mystery or crime stories/movies/Shows?
  • Why? What do you enjoy most about mysteries? (figuring out who did it)
  • How does a mystery hold our attention? [Giving us clues to the answer, keeping us searching and thinking, holding back the whole truth until the end]
• Let's all be detectives tonight.
• But usually we're searching for who the bad guy is. This time we'll be searching for who God is.

Psalm 118 [Read the whole psalm, right through.]

What does this scripture tell us about our God? What clues does it give us about his nature, his characteristics?

• God is good, unchanging, he always loves us … vs. 1-4 and 29.
• He answers our prayers … vs. 5 and 21.
• He frees us from fear … vs. 6.
• He is with us all the time … vs. 7
• He supports us, he helps us succeed … vs. 11, 12.
• He protects us from harm … vs. 11, 12.
• He strengthens us … vs. 14.
• He frees us from death, he is our salvation … vs. 14 and 21.
• He is all-powerful, in control, amazing … vs. 15, 16 and 23.
• He tests us, disciplines us … vs. 18.
• He blesses us, he gives us a great life … vs. 26.
• He shows us the way to live our lives … vs. 27.
• Our God is certainly an amazing God. How should we respond to him?

What does Psalm 118 say about what God expects of us? What should we do?

• We should give thanks … vs. 1 and 21.
• We should fear God, fear displeasing him, disappointing him … vs. 4.
• We should call on him, pray for his support … vs. 5, 12, and 25.
• But we should take action, not just wait for God to do it for us … vs. 10 -12
• We should trust him, rely on him, not on ourselves or on promises … vs. 8.
• We should be joyful always, however tough it may seem … vs. 15 and 24.
• We should speak out about him, share our faith with others … vs. 17.
• We should choose the narrow road, gate ... vs. 19, 20. (See Matt. 7: 13, 14)
• We should praise him, honour him … vs. 27, 28.

So, what have you learned from this discussion?

What must you do to get to know God better?

What will you do differently this week? (Try to set a good example, love and support one another, help those who are struggling, invite others to join our Bible Talk!)

Conclusion: Get deeper in the Bible with each other and individually to bring about a deeper knowledge of God!

The Devil Made Me Do It; Bible Talk Lesson

The Devil Made Me Do it

• What is the best excuse you have ever heard?
• What is an excuse you give when you have done something wrong?
  • He or she made me; if they hadn't . . . then I wouldn't have . . .
• Sometimes many of us can act this way about our sin, like it's not our fault. Almost like the devil made us do it.
  • Why do we want to make excuses and blame something/someone else when we sin?
    • Don't want to take responsibility
    • What will people think/How will I look if they know what I'm like.
    • Etc…
• But we are going to look at the Bible and see what it says about our sin and what's really behind it.

• The Heart determines behavior
• Luke 6:43-45
  • From this parable- How do we know if someone is bad or good?
  • By their fruit
  • Like a receipt from the ATM shows the balance in our account, the fruit of our lives shows what's really in there
  • What does Jesus mean by fruit here?
    • whatever someone produces- their actions or words
  • What are some lessons that can be learned from this simple parable?
    • Bad cannot produce good
    • Sin will hinder us from doing good
    • Good cannot produce bad
    • Ex.- If you had a dog that would viciously attack you and others; it bit you and your friends repeated times. So you decide to put a muzzle on the dog to keep it from biting. Problem solved? Did you change the dog from a bad dog to a good one? It would be a good dog as long as you had the muzzle on. But what if the muzzle came off? Did the muzzle change the character of the dog?
  • The heart is the most important part of truly changing behavior

• If the Heart determines behavior, we must change our heart.
  • How can we change our heart?
• Joel 2:12-13
  • What does Joel mean by rend your heart?
    • Tear your heart instead of your clothes
  • How do people just "tear their clothes" instead of really changing?
    • Just act religious, know all the songs
  • How do we truly rend our heart or change our heart?
    • By seeing the consequences of sin and letting it break your heart
    • Look inward to see what's causing the sin
  • Then Clean out the inside

• Don't make excuses and try to look good on the outside, be good in your heart and you won't need any excuses.

Change The World; Bible Talk Lesson

Change the World

• Opening Question: Who do you think of when you think of People who changed the world?
  • (answers from everyone)
  • How did these people Change the world?
  • How does the world treat people who want to shake things up and change the world?
  • Why don't more people try to change the World?
• Opening Statement: God is always looking for men and women who will help him change the world. And when we look at the Bible, we see he has always been looking.
  • Open your Bible to Acts 13

• Introduce the Scripture.
  • In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas are in Psidian Antioch on the first missionary journey. They are going to new places trying to help people become Christians, and we are going to read a scripture that really shows us what it would have been like to be with them.
• Acts 13:42-49
  • What qualities about Paul and Barnabas made them world changers?
    • They are going around the world for what they believe (radical)
    • They were getting people to change the way they think
    • They didn't give up when people were negative
    • They were bold
  • How did Paul and Barnabas go about changing the whole world?
    • By changing the people right around them.
    • Changing the world starts with changing our nation, state, city, community, school, job, circle of friends, family, self, etc…
    • Changing lives spreads (Acts 13:49)
  • Who are the people around you?
  • Are you impacting them?
  • In what way are you impacting them? Are you a positive or a negative influence?
• God has a plan for all of our lives, and he wants us all to change the world.

• Mark 16:15-16
  • Jesus is calling for everyone of us to change the world by changing our lives and then changing the people around us?
  • Will you change the world?